Thanks for being part of our lives and sharing our music.  We've got a couple more Christmas Shows this season, and we'd love to see you.  There are still a few copies of the "Hot Apple Cider" Christmas CD available (and it's not too late to get it for free!).  And of course, what would Christmas be without a Family Holiday Newsletter.  And links to new pictures of the littlest Fiddlesticklets....

So please read on! 

1.  FIRST, PICTURES

You can see pictures of us, and especially the newest members of the family, at fiddle-sticks.com/FSGallery.html

2.  OK, HERE's THE NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the Davises of Orem Christmas Epistle for 2005

It’s that time of year, where we try to compensate for the absence of gracefully composed, handwritten, personalized correspondence with you, our dear friends, by cobbling together a family letter. Here it is, In Our Own Words:

Mark says: Our late season tomatoes and peppers lie frostbitten in the garden, the coats and mittens have emerged from boxes and closets, and we’re reluctantly saying goodbye to a long, warm Indian summer and bracing for winter. Any day now, we know a storm will blow down from Canada and deep-freeze us until March. Lucky we live in the northern hemisphere, where the Christmas and New Years festivities give a jolly, nostalgic, merry feel to all that cold air and bad weather. So Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to you all, and if you are spending the holidays on a sunny beach in New Zealand or a mountain trail in Argentina, well, we hope you don’t miss the snow too much!

Xanny is now 3, and he and his 1-year-old baby sister (possibly named Zina Sabine, more on that later) saved us this year from what otherwise would have been a serious attack of empty-nestishness, when we took Liz off to her freshman college dorm at BYU in August. But, no. No empty nests around here: we’re still very much in the preschool, diaper, and potty-party business. They’re great kids, these little ones, and I’m fine with being a new dad again (really I am), as long as I don’t do the math and calculate how old I’ll be when we take Baby to her college dorm 17 years from now... Ow! I can feel my bones creak and my arteries harden just thinking about it!

Our little one’s a sweetheart, and her silly giggles and dark smiley eyes and incessant jabber ("whatzat??" and "whoizzit??" are this weeks’ favorites) make it all worth it. We celebrated her first birthday last week, and she’s just starting her first wobbly steps. Our only problem is we don’t know her name. Her birth certificate still says "Camilla Sabine," but Andi just never warmed up to "Millie" so we added "Zina" to her name on a trial basis a couple of months after she was born. Neither option has officially stuck yet, mainly because everybody bailed on the name confusion and just calls her "Baby." Except Xanny who calls her Zina Sabine, so maybe he’ll have his way. We hope by next year we’ll have a name for sure. Maybe "Favorite" or "Helga" or "Oremetta" or "Moon Unit"? In the meantime, "Baby" works, or "Little Girl" or "Sweetums"...

Speaking of Xanny, he’ll tell you his Big Name is "Alexander Max Davis." He knows everybody’s Big Name. And age. And has pretty much figured out all his complicated relationships. He loves his cousins and grandparents and especially his big sisters, who all love him too. And he adores his baby sister, and is sweet and kind to her about 37 percent of the time. But her gift is to love him back, despite the smacks and kicks that sometimes land him in the Naughty Chair. ("I’m being nice now... Can I get off yet?...Is it Yet yet??") He’s in preschool with his friends and he doesn’t act too bored with learning the letters and numbers and colors all over again. He fell and cut open his forehead just before his birthday in October, so seven stitches later he had a very authentic Harry Potter scar for Halloween. He loves doing flips on the trampoline and playing with his Thomas trains and reading books. He plays a tiny guitar, and does a mean rendition of the Spiderman song.

Andi’s turn to defend herself: OK, so I can’t name my kid. I told Marco that we could either add a few more names to this baby or just add a few more babies to our family. You can guess his response. My problem is that I listen to too much NPR. I hear all those great names like Sylvia Poggioli, Snigdha Prakash, Corva Coleman and Lakshmi Singh. I can’t help but to think that the name helped make the woman. Don’t be surprised if you hear a report on your radio from some far off place in 25 years from "Baby Davis." No, that doesn’t really work either, does it? What was the Lord thinking sending me a girl? I don’t know what to call it and I’m going to have to go back to college to study Advanced Utah Girl Hair Engineering. But she is just so great! She’s this brilliant Pitcher-Davis hybrid who keeps right up with our crazy organic hoard and throws fits over fuzzy things (like puppies and kittens, but she also freaks out at my eyelashes). In the words of Patrick Swayze, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Becca here: Matt and I are both at the University of California at Berkeley being underachieving over-achievers (How many hours of Simpsons is it possible to watch each day and still pass your qualifying exams at Cal? The answer may shock you!) We love the Berkeley atmosphere, with the tasty restaurants, farmers markets, swap-meets and street fairs. The most eventful street fair of late was the infamous "How Berkeley Can You Be" parade, where we actually witnessed real live Buck Naked People walking down the street (protesting something that left no impression comparatively). On a more modest note, Matt will finish his Masters in Range Science this December-- He sped through the last semester working on an Army base, taking classes, volunteering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, going to conferences and writing papers, but most especially playing lots and lots of Hawaiian Slack-key Guitar. I am working on a Masters in Folklore in a slightly wobbly program-- last March, the famous and mighty professor Alan Dundes died mid-sentence during class and left the program with a whirlwind of research notes and no paper trail. Where were people’s scholarships coming from? Where were the applications and acceptance forms? It all vanished with him. The department hired a modernity-locality-governmentality-storyability-gestureifying-communicability guy. Whatever that means. So the program is trying to avoid dissolution in a sea of jargon. We students chant to each other: Folk Tales! Ballads! Quilts! Hand Games! to ward off the -alities and -izations. Along with school I’m working as a bookkeeper (in spite of my lifelong battle with Numerophobia) and tutoring Japanese kids in English (which sounds grand but it’s mostly gluesticks, playdough, and peanut butter). We’re busy, doing well, and loving our hobbit-hole of an apartment and our wee community garden down the way. Love to all.

Katie here: In January, I started my first semester back at USU in Logan since my study abroad to France. It was an adjustment! The whole "speaking English" thing is still kind of weird. But I did alright, somehow managed to pull off okay grades, and then celebrated the beginning of summer by flying to Berkeley to be with Becca and Matt for a week. That was fun. They live in a place that has cultural events happening daily! I am overcome with jealousy even still. Anyway, I got home and immediately started working for the Uinta National Forest in the Wilderness crew. It was a really fun job, I got to go hiking all the time, and learn to use a GPS (the big high-tech ones) and then after I threw my back I learned how to make maps using ARCMap software. Liz and I went to San Diego together where we wined and dined with famous fiddlers like Mark O’Connor and Darol Anger, and made friends with some of the coolest musicians in the world. After my job ended, I went to a fiddle workshop in Takoma Park, Maryland which was taught by the Kane Sisters from Galway, Ireland. It was amazing and inspiring. Since then, I’ve been at school trying not to fail all of my classes. I’m a bit distracted because I just recently received my mission call to Durban, South Africa, and I don’t leave until February. I’m getting a bit antsy and I can’t muster up the motivation to sit down and write an essay about GK Gilbert and his assessment of faulting of the Wellsville mountains. Can you blame me, really? Anyway, after school’s over, Liz and I are planning on recording a CD which will focus just on us and our "new, improved style." It’s expected to be finished before I leave for Africa.

Liz writes: This past year has been one adventure after another. I made it through my senior year of high school in one piece. It was full of craziness and good friends. (Editor’s note: by "craziness" she means Student Council, 3.9 GPA, and nonstop clubs, parties, concerts and activities). Over the summer I went to the New Directions Cello Society Festival and the Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp. They were life changing and cellistically inspiring. I also spent some time in Berkeley when Grandma Betty and I visited Becca and Matt. In August I started school at Brigham Young University. I live on campus, but close to home, so I can see how the babies are doing on Sundays. I’m majoring in Cello Performance. It’s been really busy. I have class from about 9-5 everyday with just enough break time to get my required practicing in. I’ve been corrupting the stoically classical cello department with my Celtic master classes and jam sessions. Some of the cello majors have become addicted to my subversive style. Wahoo - recruits! I’m in the Philharmonic Orchestra and in the folk ensemble (accompanying the international folk dancers). Somehow between all my classes and performances, I have found enough time to be the captain of a Frisbee team. We had a great team -- we were undefeated and took first place in our division of the intramural tournament! I even dove into the endzone to make a goal in the last game (I got over my fear!!!). It’s been a great year! I look forward to the next one. Happy Winter!

More from Mark: The international law biz took me to Buenos Aires (to help keep the world safe for Argentine honey) and to China a few times (where I’m starting to realize my business is moving, along with much of the rest of world trade). We have teamed up with a Chinese lawyer to do some joint projects (and he helps us with translation – cultural as much as linguistic). (More at www.dltrade.com.) I hit the China lecture circuit, too, and exhorted Chinese law students in a handful of universities across the country about the wonders of free trade and the mysteries of normal economics – which fell on polite but mostly deaf ears. At home I enjoyed watching our little ones grow smarter and cuter by the hour, and managed to to make a nice dent in the house and garden chore list. In our spare time we’re still playing lots of music together. We did a couple of performance tours, got to play on a movie soundtrack, and our "Return to Nauvoo" CD is in its third printing. Katie and Liz are working on a new recording that they plan to finish before Katie takes off for Africa in February, so stay tuned to www.fiddle-sticks.com for details. And come visit us -- we hope to have our Spring City house fixed up and ready for visitors by this time next year.

Best wishes for 2006 from all us Davises!

3.  UPCOMING LIVE MUSIC:

We had a great time playing with Jon Schmidt at Kingsbury Hall last Friday and Saturday.  Here's what else we're up to:

ALPINE
Friday, December 16, 7pm
Timberline Benefit Concert
500 W. Canyon Crest
Alpine

Timberline Middle School is a brand new school with a brand new music program. We're happy to be part of an exciting benefit concert to help get the music department off to a good start. We'll be playing Christmas tunes with other local musicians like Cherie Call, April Meservy, Jessie Clark Funk, Todd McCabe and April Moriarty. Tickets are $7, available on line at www.localeventtix.com or at the door. For more information, call 763-0547.

OREM
Monday, December 19, 7pm
Annual Children's Library Concert
Orem City Public Library
56 North State Street
Orem

We can't imagine Christmas without a FiddleSticks children's show at the Orem Library. The show is free and fun for even the youngest kids. The Orem Library is one of the community's greatest assets, and we love playing in the Cathedral-like Children's Library. Come check out some books, a video or two, and enjoy our Celtic winter solstice tunes soaring into the acoustics of the vaulted ceiling. Join the fun! For info: 229-7161

OREM
Monday, December 26, 6-9 pm
Eleventh Annual FiddleSticks Boxing Day Party
The Davis House
647 North 1280 East
Orem

Since our arrival in Utah so many years ago, we have welcomed our friends and fans to our home in Orem for a concert and party the day after Christmas: Boxing Day. Traditionally Boxing Day was when the leftover Christmas fare was boxed up and shared with the servants, so leftover Christmas fare is perfect for the potluck snack table, and bring your instrument to join in the after party jam session. Most of all, bring your good cheer. Our fiddler Katie will be leaving for a mission in South Africa in February, so come bid her farewell! For questions or directions, please call 801 221 1108.


4.  NEW TSSA CD CHRISTMAS COMPILATION
(And you can get it for free!)

"HOT APPLE CIDER" IS HERE!  Just in time to fill out your stocking stuffer list, we're happy to announce a great new Holiday recording. The new album, called "Hot Apple Cider" features one of FiddleSticks' most favorite tunes "Our Saviour Thee." Each year the Timpanogos Singer Songwriter Alliance releases a Christmas compilation CD to share the original music of great local artists. This CD features holiday tunes from loads of local performers, including Pete Breinholt, Eclipse, Sam Payne, Jon Schmidt, Jeff Hinton, Johnny and the Rebels and MORE! 

GET IT FOR FREE:  The new "Hot Apple Cider" CD is only $10, or FREE if you order any two FiddleSticks albums. And did we mention that FiddleSticks CDs make great gifts? Such a selection to choose from: FiddleSticks have award winning six recordings in print: The Sampler (1998), Playing Favorites (1999), Cold Fusion (2000), Time and Again (2001), the Cat and the Fiddle (2002), and Return to Nauvoo (2004), featuring our presentation of traditional old time hymns.

CDs are available at all performances, in Utah bookstores, online at www.fiddle-sticks.com, or by mail order ($15 for CDs, $5 for cassettes, plus $2 per order shipping and handling). Buy 2 CDs and get the TSSA compilation CD (or a FiddleSticks cassette) for free -- just ask!

CHRISTMAS FREE SHIPPING SPECIAL:
Order before now and Christmas and we'll ship to you for free.  And for just $2 we'll gift wrap it and send your gift to the destination of your choice.  Just let us know!

To order send your check to FiddleSticks, 647 North 1280 East, Orem UT 84097 (800-969-7640).

Or you can order via PayPal (use email address "mdavisx@..." for payment.)  (Or online at CDBaby.com or Fiddle-Sticks.com, or in local bookstores, but they can't give you the freebies or giftwrapping!)

5.  OTHER FIDDLESTICKS NEWS:

A - KATIE GOES TO AFRICA: Katie will be packing up her scriptures (and certainly also her fiddle) and heading to Durban South Africa for a year and a half as a full-time missionary. She'll be leaving on February 22, 2006. Katie will take a leave of absence from her studies in Environmental Studies at Utah State University in Logan.

B - LIZ PLAYS FOR BYU:  Liz is playing cello with both the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra and the BYU Folk Music Ensemble. She also is in the band that plays for the BYU International Folk Dancers, and she'll be traveling to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Quebec this summer, and had a very cool on-stage dancing fiddle/cello duet in front of the thousands at the Marriot Center in the BYU "Christmas Around the World" performances on December 2 and 3.

C - NEW FIDDLESTICKS CD: There's a new FiddleSticks CD in the works. Katie and Liz have been busily writing music and are scheduled to start recording right as soon as finals are over. If all goes well, look for a CD release party (and Katie farewell party) on February 3 at the Noni International Stage in Provo.  More details to follow.

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